Staying at the Hampton

This morning was a long, hard slog of approximately 35 miles of consistent uphill. Sure there were some flats and plateaus, but the name of the game was up. Started out awfully cold in Panguitch, a very crisp morning. All of the warmers and jackets, however, came off within a few minutes of encountering the sun and the climb. We took our midway break at a gas station and general store on Lake Panguitch. The place was a two story log cabin with a front porch and bench seating, a miniature lodge. It was an ideal spot to watch a guy smash into the gas station awning. He was driving a pickup truck with an oversize camper shell attached and bashed right into the overhang above the gas pumps. The shell swayed back and forth dangerously from the impact but eventually stabilized. His buddy got out to assess the damage and pulled off a couple of exterior pieces of the shell, metal rails and such. We spoke briefly to a guy from Kansas and named names, listing off the cities we had been to. Hey, now we're on the level with Kansas folks.

We continued climbing again, occasionally stopping to fill up the water bottles or down a Clif bar, there was little relief. I believe it was the longest sustained climb of the tour. The thing was nearly over when we entered the Cedar Breaks National Monument but pushed for one final stretch to the absolute top. We stopped at a meadow blooming with stunning wildflowers and then began a glorious downhill push. It was around ten miles of good, strong descent with an S curve thrown in for good measure. The final portion became more gradual and we rode steadily toward Cedar City. During the final approach to the city we saw a perplexing dude. He was riding in the opposite direction, was missing many of his teeth, rode a rickety bicycle and was hauling near-empty panniers. The crowning achievement of the whole setup though, was a full size BBQ propane tank lashed to his rear rack. Yes, we're talking gas grill. Right next to your Weber. You want to char some doggies, he's got what you need. We cracked up hysterically and wondered if it had actually happened.

Our destination in Cedar City was of the slightly more luxurious variety. My uncle does a lot of business travel for his job computer consulting and has racked up quite a few points with the Hilton chain. He got in touch with me some days earlier and offered to put us up if a city had a participating hotel. Cedar City is the proud home of a Hampton Inn. Thank you Uncle John. And hello to Aunt Beth and Jenna and Andrew. And if that wasn't enough, Jeremy's mom offered to pay for another evening so we could have a rest day after twelve days on the road.

We found an internet cafe, looked up directions, and headed toward Easy Street. Visited both of the town's bike shops on the way and Jordan was quite pleased to find a replacement Armadillo tire after his current rear had been damaged in the rain cover/skid incident. Jeremy replaced his broken bottle at one shop and bought a second at the other. We arrived at the Hampton, checked in, and picked up a package from my mom. Thanks Mom. But also thanks to Janet Shannon, mother of our good friend Garrett Shannon. The cardboard box was filled with the leftovers of gourmet camp food Garrett had been receiving on his solo journey across the US some months prior. Individual packets of olive oil, pastas, dehydrated vegetables, couscous, mushroom rice, incredible. We will eat in style.

We were waiting for some cookies to finish baking in the Hampton reception area and some obnoxious motorcycle types arrived. They thought they were tough because they bought some stuff at the Harley Davidson store but they were annoying so we departed, sans cookies. Ate at the Costa Vida Mexican restaurant, a bit like Chiptole, and weird to be watching surf videos on the wall in Utah. A girl working there complimented on us our tee shirts and we had Horchata. In Utah? It was great.

We came back and the cookies were ready and we ate many and spoke to a family that ended up being from Poway, Sabre Springs. Small world huh? Boredom struck late in the evening and we walked over to Wal Mart and rode around on their motorized scooters. An employee yelled at us and told us “Those aren't for playing on.” Buzzkill. Everybody looked sad in Wal Mart so we went back home to the Hampton. Finished the day watching some bad TV and asked for a wake up call at 5:55 the next morning.

The pool hall/garage at the Hitchin' Post.

On the climb.

The reverse.

At the top.

Around 10,000 feet.

Final descent into Cedar City.